written by Agatha Christie and directed by Brian Blessed

The Hollow will be at the Mill at Sonning from 7 July for an eight week season to 3 September

THE MILL AT SONNING THEATRE Sonning Eye, Reading RG4 6TY

Agatha Christie adapted the book (1946) into a highly successful stage play in 1951.

Bullets pumping into the body of Dr John Christow was the wish of many people. But who actually pulled the trigger? Did the butler do it? Was it his wife? His mistress? An ex-mistress? A jealous suitor? Perhaps Lucy, the lady of the house, isn't as nutty as she seems? Is Midge, a young sales girl, hiding something? Let's not forget the maid, Doris. So who did it? You decide. With the help of course of Detective Inspector Colquhoun who will take you through all the fascinating clues. For this is Agatha Christie country. Murder. Mayhem. And a lot of laughs abound before the culprit is found.

The set designer will be Dinah England.

The cast of 12 includes Hildegard Neil as Lady Angkatell and Rosalind Blessed as Henrietta Angkatell.

Hildegard Neil has portrayed Leni Riefenstahl in Leni, Leni which has been screened at Berlin and Cannes 2016. Leni Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress, dancer, and propagandist for the Nazis. Hildegard Neil’s extensive TV credits include the BBC TV series Hotel Babylon with Dexter Fletcher and Tamsin Outhwaite and the Linda La Plante ITV series Above Suspicion-Red Dahlia. Her numerous stage roles include Gertrude in Hamlet and Helen/Andromache in Troilus and Cressida with the RSC. She was in Enchanted April directed by Sally Hughes, Artistic Director at the Mill At Sonning, in 2014.

Rosalind Blessed played Emilia in Othello in 2014 and was Goneril in King Lear (Brian Blessed) with the Guildford Shakespeare Company in 2015. She was in The Ballad of Robin Hood at Southwark Playhouse last year. Rosalind has written The Delights of Dogs and the Problems with People' at The Courtyard Theatre which she is performing from 15 March - 10 April http://delightsofdogs.com

This will be the first time Brian Blessed has directed a stage production. He has been in many of Kenneth Branagh’s films including As You Like It, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, and as The Ghost/King in Hamlet. He was the original Deuteronomy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, and has been in many RSC productions. In his role as Vultan in Flash Gordon, his line "Gordon’s alive!" remains the most repeated quotation from the film and his career. His other roles include Richard IV in Blackadder and Augustus Caesar in I Claudius. His famous voice has been heard as The Pirate Captain in the Award winning cartoon The Band of Misfits and as Boss Nass in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. He has written five books and has been on three expeditions to Mount Everest. Absolute Pandemonium, his latest autobiography was published last autumn.